Hopper-bottom car.



A. CAMPBELL.

HOPPER BOTTOM CAR. APPLICATION FILED APR. a, 1912.

Patented May 20, 193.

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LVVENTOR.

A TTOANEYS,

A. CAMPBELL.

HOPPER BOTTOM OAR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 5, 1912. Y 1,962,384. Patented. May 20, 1913.

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AIlKCvtYIlLE4 CAMPBELL, OF CHICAGO,- ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TOVENTERPRISE RAILWA l v EQUIPMENT COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

HOPPER-BOTTOM CAR. f

Application led April 5, 1912. Serial N o. 688,591.

To -aZZ'fw/tom t may concern: v

Beit known that I, ARGYLE CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United `States,resi`ding in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new. and useful Improvement in Hopper-Bottom Cars, of which the'following is a specification.

This invention relatesfto improvements in hopper bottom cars. The objects of my invention are to ut1l1ze space heretofore lost in the central portion of the well known W type of hopper bottom cars; increase the dpor opening area; lower the center .of gravity of the car and the load; and so arrange the hoppers or chutes that the car will be entirely self-clearing and prevent the bridging ,or arching of the material forming the load, when the doors .are opened.

My invent-ion further consists in improvements in parts and devices and in the novel combinations of theV parts and devices shown, described or claimed.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is aplan view of a portion of a hopper bottom car embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the st-ructure shown in Fig. 1, part of the view being in section to more clearly illustrate the construction, and Fig, 3 is a transverse sectional view, upon van enlarged scale,

' taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawing, 10 denotes the body ofthe `ear, the same comprising upright ends 11,

11,l sides 12, 12, the latter being provided with the usual stakes 13, 13, sloping bottoms 14, 14, each of said bottoms in conjunction with other hopper sheets hereinafter described forming at its lower end, a chute 15, it being apparent that these chutes are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the center sills 16 of the car underframe. Each end chute 15 comprises end-hopper triangular-shaped side and center'hopper-sheets 114 and end-hopper central, longitudinal hopper sheets 115, the hopper-sheets 114 being more clearly shown in Fig. 2 and the central, longitudinal hopper-sheets 115A in Fig. 1. Each chute 15 is provided at its lower end with a door opening' 17, each of said door openings being adapted to be closed by an end hinged door 18 pivoted at its upper edge to an. end, transversely extending, hopper Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2o, 191s.

sheet 20, each of said doors being arranged substantially at'right angles to the coperating bottom of its hopper.

Hitherto in'hopper bottom cars -of the type to which this improvement relates, 2.. e.,

however, to accomplish-the objects of this invention enumerated, heretofore, I omit these raised central portions of the bottom of the ear, indicated in the drawing by dash lines, and substitute therefor a pair of V- shaped chutes or hoppers, one on each side of the center sills, each ofsaid chutes or hoppers being formed by a pair of'pivotally swinging doors -21, each pivoted at its upper edge to an intermediate, transversely eX- tending hopper sheet 20, triangular-shaped side hopper sheets 22, triangular-shaped center hopper sheets 23 and central, longi-4 tudinal hopper sheets V122 (see F ig. l). As will be obvious, with this construction, the capacity of the car is increased by the )volume included between the dash lines shown at Fig. 2 and the V-shaped hoppers or chutes formed by the members 20, 21, 22, 122 and 23, the center of gravity of the empty or loaded car is lowered, the door area is doubled and the entire structure so arranged that possibility of bridging of the material forming the load, is practically eliminated;

Each pair of. doors 18 is connected by a cross bar 24 so that they are opened and closed simultaneously. Each pair of doors 21, is 'simllarly provided with a cross bar 24 Vand each set of oppositely swinging pairs of doors 21 and 18 is operated from a transversely disposed shaft 25, suitably mounted in bearings in the car structure and' having secured thereto a crank arm 26, pivotally connected to links 27 mounted on a pivot pin 28, the latter having mounted alsopivotally thereon toggle members 29, each of the toggle members 29 having mounted adjustably therein' at its outer end an eye bolt 30, pivotally connected to the cross bars 24.

Each of the pivot pins 28 has its ends exy wheels of the/ truck, as contradistinguished from hoppers which are narrowed in order to b e accommodated*` between thelwheels of the truck, and which consequently have a small door opening'area. It `will also be l noted Afrom an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3,

that the central, longitudinal hopper sheets are all disposed in planes below the top edges of the sides and are placed directly above the center sills as iscustomary 1n this type lof hopper bottom cars.

The W type of hopper ,bottom car, 'to which applicants invention relates, .has hitherto hada capacity for coal of a proximately one hundred thousand poun s, and

the ratio of the over-all inside length of the carito the height of the tops of thel sides above the rails approximates 3 to 1;-andit v will be noted that applicant has increased the capacity of this type of car and still maintained said approximate ratio of length to height.4

I claim Y A hopper car of the character described, having vertical end walls; sides; inclined bottoms sloping from said end walls toward the center of the car and passing over the trucks to points therebetween, the distance between the outer sidesheets ofthe hoppers on'one side of the car and the outer side sheets .of the hopperson the other side of the car being greater than the distance between the rails; end-hopper triangular-shaped side and center hopper-sheets, transverse hopper sheets, and end-hoppercentral, longitudinal hopper-sheets disposedi'n planes below the level of the tops ofthe car sides and adja4 cent the car center sillf, said bottoms and endhopper hopper-sheets cooperating to form four endvhoppers, a pair at each end of the car, said end hoppers being disposed below the level of the tops of said central, longitudinal hopper-sheets; end-hopper doors onI each side ofthe car center sill hinged along their uppe edges to said transverse hoppersheets andK adapted to close the lower endsY of said end hoppers; supplemental V-shaped hoppers on each side of the car center sill intermediate the end hoppers, saidsupplemental-hoppers being formed by supplemental-hopper, longitudinal hopper-sheets disposed in planes below the level vof the car sides, supplemental-hopper triangular shaped side and center hopper-sheets, supplemental-hopper `'transverse hopper-sheets and supplemental-hopper swinging doors hinged along their upper edges to said last named transverse hopper-sheets, the supplemental-hoppers being disposed below the level of the topsof said last named central, longitudinal hopper-sheets; and mechanism;

for operating and closing all of said doors, including transversely arranged operating shafts, all of the end and supplementalhoppers being arranged so as to obtain a low center of gravity for the load, increased capacity, largen door opening area, andthe4 transverse hopper-sheets meeting at their. upper edges at acute angles to thereby prevent bridging of the load, substantially as specified. l

ARGYLE CAMPBELL.`

Witnesses:

.'A..E. TIMMER,

W. L. GUNISON. 

